Fortnite is known for it’s in-game events that players can experience. Previously loot lake froze over, dusty divot was created by a meteor and so on. With Epic Games throwing a major event in Times Square featuring Ninja this New Years Eve it appears as if they planned to have the ball drop in-game. However, according to some Reddit users the ball dropped early. Players that were in NA East servers were able to experience the ball drop before midnight. One Reddit use captured the Fortnite Ball Drop that you can see below.

The ball drop was surrounded by fireworks and celebration noises as the special event launched early. Once the ball drops all players on the map appear to start dancing, almost as if they were hit by a giant boogie bomb (For those who don’t know a boogie bomb in Fortnite is a throwable item you can toss at your opponent to make them start dancing).

It seems as if this was either a test for the major live event tonight, or just a glitch in the Fortnite world. If you were unable to see it in-game early, you should be able to see it tonight when the clock strikes midnight in your timezone. Or, you can watch it live on Ninja’s Twitch channel as he is hosting Fortnite’s New Years Eve party.

To go along with the ball drop it appears as if every hour Fortnite is show casing “2019” in the sky. The 2019 fireworks will be shown every hour as each timezone celebrates the new year (12:00 AM in respective timezone).